Everything promises a riotous welcome in Dublin on Saturday week for the English, more than half of whose likely XV will be playing their first international at ever-clamorously, forbidding Lansdowne Road.

Yet before they can remotely get daunted for Dublin, most of the England players are having to concentrate fiercely on cup-ties for their clubs this weekend. It is tough at the top.

It was illuminating on Saturday evening at Twickenham to hear England's totem, Lawrence Dallaglio, stiffen his lip to disguise a weary sigh: "Dublin? I'm afraid we cannot turn any collective attention to that for a week at least. We shall be at our various clubs and concentrating 100 per cent on cup commitments." With the World Cup also already looming large on the horizon, England's coach, Clive Woodward, must begin at once to make his audacious moves in selection. Win or lose in Dublin, Woodward's World Cup team and its strategies must be in place by the end of the Five Nations.

Which means, for starters, that the teenager Jonny Wilkinson must lead the line and call the shots and fire the revolution from out-half against Ireland and for the rest of the spring. The young virtuoso's precocious masterclass at centre last Saturday screamed for his move to conductor's podium. It is a daunting task. But far better sooner than later.

France Squad (v Wales in Paris): Backs: D Aucagne (Pau), P Bernat-Salles (Biarritz), P Carbonneau (Brive), T Castaignede (Castres), F Comba (Stade Francais), R Dourthe (Stade Francais), X Garbajosa (Stade Toulousain), C Laussucq (Stade Francais), T Lombard (Stade Francais), E Ntamack (Stade Toulousain).

Forwards: D Auradou (Stade Francais), P Benetton (Agen), O Brouzet (Begles), C Cali- fano (Stade Toulousain), M Dal Maso (Colomiers), R Ibanez (Perpignan, capt), T Lievremont (Perpignan), O Magne (Brive), S Marconnet (Stade Francais), O Pelous (Stade Toulousain), M Raynaud (Narbonne), F Tournaire (Stade Toulousain).